In 2005, prominent Turkish news magazine Yeni Aktuel published an article (in Turkish) entitled "Gulen's Educational Empire." It can be viewed at the Haber10 website. In this article, a tally is given of Gulen schools outside of Turkey. The schools are not named, but their number is listed by country. A translation of this list is given below.

Note that a number of Gulen charter schools were already in operation in the U.S. in 2005 (see the Perimeter Primate blogger's timeline), but are not counted in this list. It is unclear whether Yeni Aktuel simply did not know of their existence, or if their omission was a "courtesy" to the Gulen Movement.

It is often said that the Gulen schools in Russia were closed, but the mention on this list of 6 schools in the Russian Federation is consistent with our observations that Gulen schools are in operation in that country. The closure was temporary, as confirmed in the doctoral dissertation of Mustafa Gokhan Sahin (Florida International University, 2010).

The mention of one school in Uzbekistan is also noteworthy. The Department of State's religious freedom article on Uzbekistan (accessed Dec 2012) says that all "Turkish schools" (referring to Gulen schools) were closed in 1999. Several other sources refer to this closure; Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty wrote that "In 1999, Tashkent closed all Turkish lyceums after its relationship with Ankara turned sour." However, a Today's Zaman article of Jan 19, 2011 reports the closure of the Tashkent Ulugbek International School. Most likely this is the one school referred to in Yeni Aktuel's list.

There has been substantial expansion of the international school network since 2005.